I've been trying to look at some inspiration on here. What would be some good search terms to describe this type of house -- I'm drawing a blank!

Cute house! i think the shrubs are too large-they block the view of your home. Some smaller flowering shrubs would give some color. i could see decorative house numbers as well. Maybe beefed up trim on upper level?

Yes the bushes are too large. About twice as large as they should be for optimal attractiveness.

Possibly adding some shutters to the 2 windows in the 2nd floor will help take up some space on the exterior and make it look more balanced.

Nice house. What's throwing off the visual balance is the large group of shrubs on one side, with nothing on the other side. That needs to be corrected. A good start would be to cut & remove the two shrubs nearest the entry, leaving the third shrub to anchor the corner. Then you have room to move the two flowerpots to the base of your steps, freeing up space on the top. How does that look now? You might not feel the need to add shutters or trim or take any other action.

NO shutters but a bit beefier trim for sure on those upper windows The bushes are way too big for such a small yard so I would get the landscaping taken care of then see if you need to do anything to this really attractive home.

It really is a cute home!!
I’d add railing to the top level so it looks like another porch. Or make it into another porch, with French doors between the windows.

There aren’t many good photos of what I mean, but hope this helps

I took your suggestions and did my best in Photoshop. Definitely like the way it looks -- just have to figure out if the second-story balcony is feasible :)